Eichaed kitson



(N0 Model.)

B. KITSON.

COTTON OPENER AND LAPPER. No.- 272,709. Patented Feb. 20, L883.

Wim assgs v UNI ED STATES FFICEQ ATENT RICHARD KITSON, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE KlTSON MACHINE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

COTTON OPENER AND LAPPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 272,709, dated February 20, 1883.

Application filed January 19, 1882. (No model.) 7

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, RICHARD KITSON, of

the city of Lowell,,county of Middlesex, and

State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Cotton Openers and Lappers,of which the following is a specification.

My improvement relates to machines for opening cotton and forming a lap therefrom; and its object is to provide a machine which will produce'a lap having a perfectly true, square, and straight edge, and one having the same solidity near the edge that it has in any other part. I accomplish this object by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section through my machine. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the calender-rolls seen in Fig. l removed from the machine. Fig. 3 is a section of the rolls seen in Fig. 2.

A isthe apron,on which the cotton is placed .to be fed to the machine.

a a are feed-rolls, by which the cotton is grasped and held while operated upon by the beater B.

O U are screens or cages, on which the fibers of cotton are deposited when thrown forward by the beater with the current of aircreated by it. These screens are connected with the exhaust-fan F, which creates a partial vacuum in the screens by exhausting the air from them, so that the fibers of cotton thrown forward by the beater will be felted upon the screens or cages, from which they are taken by the drawoff rolls 0, when theypass to the calender-rolls D, the upper and larger one, (I, of which is made of a length to conform exactly to the desired widl h of the lap. The lowerone, c, is provided with collars g, which extend up past the ends of the upper roll, so that it moves freely but closely between them. The sheets of cotton to form the lap are passed between these calender-rolls, by which they are pressed together to be united to form a lap, and as there is no space between the rolls, except a space the exact width of the lap to be made, the two sheets will be compressed from edge to edge equally, and will be delivered with a perfectly square edge which is perfectly straight.

Heretofore the calender-rolls have been made straight without collars, and the width of the lap has been controlled by guide pieces or checks, which were placed in advance of the rolls; but as these guides could not pass between the rolls at the point where the pressure came, the edges widened out irregularly, because of the pressure and the lack of support in one direction at the place where the pressure was applied, so that the lap was made irregular, and the two sheets of cotton forming the lap were not so perfectly compressed together at the edges as near themore central parts, and the lap therefore was very liable to begin to split at its edges when fed to the card. As there has heretofore been no way of compressing two sheets as firmly together near their edges as in their central parts, because of the sidewise escape of the fibers at the edges, it has not been found practical to produce a lap on a two-screen machine which would not split. This would especially be liable to happen when the edge ofoue sheet overreached the edge of the other ists, which, being begun, extends back into the I lap where the sheets are most firmly united, no longer exists. I do not, however, intend to confine the use of my improved calenderrolls to machines having two cages, but expect to use it with a single screen to make a square edged lap.

In the mechanism shown in the drawings the direction of movement of the different parts is indicated by arrows, the parts being driven by belts operating on pulleys driven from conveniently-placed counter-shafts, and O with -the calenderrolls D, one of which is the feed and calender rolls are geared toprovided with collars which extend past the 10 gether, all in the usual Well-known manner of the end of theother, substantially as described. driving cottnn openers and lappers, and the 5 gear and pulleys are not therefore shown. RICHARD KIDSON What I claim as new and of my invention Witnesses: is- HAVEN O. PERHAM,

The combination of the beater B and cages ,LEPINEU. RICE. 

